Lifeblood
by PHD in oof
Summary: David was terminally ill until Cole saved him as well as the rest of New Marais by using the RFI. A few years later, David activates his own conduit abilities after a near-death experience. Follow David's journey trying to find his place in this world of conduits, superheroes, and villains. Features blood-manipulating conduit. OC-centric.
1. The Beginning

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my OC's, any characters and references from Infamous and DCU belong to their respective owners.

"This is speech"

'This is thought'

Not much was visible from my room in an apartment on the edges of New Marais. I had been infected with the mysterious plague that had spread throughout the entirety of the city. None of the doctors that my father had me visit knew anything about it, or how to treat it.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do." I had grown sick of hearing those words.

I prayed and prayed, wishing more than anything that I could be cured of the terrible disease that had ruined my life. A kid that hadn't even reached 12 years didn't deserve to die in such a fashion, while murderers and rapists and pedophiles were out there having the time of their lives, taking advantage of the chaos, remaining ignorant of the pain that good people were suffering in their place.

In hindsight, I suppose I should have paid more attention to the saying, "Be careful what you wish for."

I don't think I was the only one that watched in fear as The Beast walked through the city. It's massive form towered over the buildings, and it could be seen from all the way across the city. Entire neighborhoods fell to ruin as it traipsed through them. Hundreds, if not thousands, died, and The Beast didn't give the slightest regard.

I remember a sudden blinding light, originating from a point somewhere near The Beast, but illuminating the entire sky with its splendor. I felt a wave of energy pass through my body, taking something with it as it passed, and then there was a sudden relief throughout my entire body, like a large weight had been lifted. My lungs felt clearer, my heart beat just a little bit stronger. I absentmindedly noticed that the Beast was gone.

For the first time in weeks, my body didn't instantly seize when trying to get out of bed. With shaky knees, I started walking towards the door to my room. I stumbled a little, but eventually made it across. My short, brown hair clung to my forehead with sweat. A tentative smile started to grow on my face.

"Dad!" I shouted, "Dad! I think I'm cured! I feel alright now! What happened? I saw a light, is everything alright? What happened to that giant rock monster outside?"

When no response came from downstairs, the smile quickly disappeared from my face. I rushed down as quick as I could. My legs, still weakened from being in bed for so long, prevented me from moving too fast, almost forcing me to the ground. But my conviction prevailed, I had to see my dad, to tell him the good news.

As I neared the living room, a heavy breathing could be heard, along with the smell of something burning. I finally entered the room and gasped. A body was lying on the ground in front of the couch, facing away from me, smoke coming off it like a campfire. A faint orange glow could be seen surrounding it, growing dimmer by the second. A tear fell to the ground.

"Dad?"

Turning the body over, the reality of the situation seemed to finally set in. My dad was dying, his condition growing worse by the second. Faint tremors passed through his body, like he was fighting off a figure. A faint orange glow could be seen in his eyes, a stark contrast to his completely ashen face. He seemed to be staring intently at his palm, where a small flame was flickering. As seconds passed, the flame grew smaller, until eventually it was extinguished. At that moment, the eyes with the strange glow finally seemed to notice me. As they passed over my face, his lips curved into a smile. Weakly raising his hand to my cheek, looking as if this was the first time that he laid eyes upon me, he whispered, "David... Son..."

Then, to my bewilderment, he started to chuckle, as if he had said a joke. His laughter echoed throughout the halls, it seemed mocking. Soon, he stopped laughing, his eyes looking directly into mine as they grew dimmer. All before his body gave one final spasm and his eyes ceased to glow.

I stood by his body for what felt like hours, refusing to believe that my dad, the person that had always seemed so strong while I was so weak, was dead. Trying to wake him up was a futile venture, not that I didn't try.

It wasn't long before the events of the last few moments caught up with me, and I passed out, my eyes red from tears

* * *

A white ceiling greeted me as I opened my eyes. A hospital. Sitting up, I remembered what had happened, but no tears came this time. I was beyond tears. All that I felt was a numbness throughout my entire body.

Everything that happened afterwards felt like it went by in fast-forward. After leaving the hospital, I was quickly sent to a foster family. A woman and her husband whose names I never bothered learning took me in. They gave me their condolences, saying how sorry they were that I had to go through such a thing, and how grateful I should be for my miraculous recovery. But they didn't really care.

Weeks went by. My quiet, somber demeanor seemed to be what they expected for the most part, but as more and more time went by, they seemed to grow impatient at my behavior. They probably expected a child that would be sad for a while, but would quickly grow out of it and be grateful to them for their help. Unfortunately for them, I had no plans to stop grieving and become the cheerful little scamp they wanted me to be anytime soon.

Weeks turned into months, and somewhere along the line the couple decided that they no longer wanted anything to do with me, and I was sent to a different foster home, and then another.

For almost 6 years I was passed back and forth through many different foster families. Most of them weren't too bad, but they all expected me to act a certain way, to conform to the vision that they had of me. I refused to give into their expectations, and I was soon sent away.

Years of being handed to different families finally culminated in me being sent to a Mr. and Mrs. Thorn. At first they seemed like all the others, smiling and expressing their condolences for my loss. They even had a nice house in the new suburbs that were built after the destruction caused by The Beast. But it wasn't long before they revealed their true nature, and everything went to shit.

* * *

I woke up with a start, looking around wildly, then sighed.

'Another nightmare, and here I was thinking that I'd finally gotten over it.'

Over the past 6 years, the pain from my dad's death had mostly faded, and I was able to function normal, but thinking about it still hurt.

Deciding that a cool glass of water would probably be best right now, I headed towards the kitchen. The cool air from the refrigerator washed over me, but I ignored it, grabbing a chilled water bottle and heading to my room. A loud thud, like something heavy being dropped, stopped me still. I turned towards the direction it came from and frowned. This was a common occurrence that started a few weeks ago. Mr. Alex Thorn, a scientist (he never mentioned what it was he studied), started going down into the basement every second that he could. It wasn't too bad at first, but then he started missing meals and became quite abrasive whenever questioned about his work. Every time someone mentioned the loud noises at night and what they were, the smile that he usually wore would turn into an ugly scowl and he'd tell whoever was asking to mind their own business and to stay away from his workshop, which was in the basement.

My frown quickly became more curious than annoyed.

'Just what is it that he's working on down there? Despite his serious need for an attitude adjustment, he doesn't seem like the type to do anything illegal, so what is it that's causing him to be so secretive?'

My curiosity was too strong to resist, and I soon found myself opening the door to the basement. It was locked initially, but I knew where Thorn kept the key, he wasn't anywhere near as stealthy as he thought he was. Heading down, I found my body shaking in anticipation, what would I find?

As I reached the bottom, a small workshop could be seen. There was a multitude of machines, all serving some unspecified purpose, scattered throughout the entire room. Mr. Thorn was nowhere to be seen, weird. Upon the table there was a series of notes. Most of it was scientific gibberish, terms and phrases that would take weeks of study to even begin to understand. A few words like RAY FIELD and CONDUIT were underlined and bolded.

Conduits, I had heard about them. The news talked about them as if they were criminals, freaks, all because they could do things that others couldn't. It never made any sense to me, but perhaps I was biased. My father had been one after all. Besides, what could I do? I was just some random orphan that couldn't get a family to like him enough to adopt him. Not that it mattered much anymore, in less than a year I'd be an adult and finally be able to go out on my own. I shook my head and moved on from those thoughts, looking upon a table that was to the right of the one I was facing.

A small tarp could be seen covering something, a faint purple glow emanating from beneath. As I neared the tarp, I could feel this energy that seemed to excite every individual cell in my body. I lifted the tarp and stared in surprise at the glowing, purple crystal that was sitting there, attached to some machine.

A loud, shattering noise from behind startled me and I quickly turned around, becoming much more nervous when I saw Mr. Thorn standing there on the opposite end of the room. Shattered glass could be seen on the floor.

"David?"

His surprised expression quickly turned into one of rage

"What are you doing here?! Didn't I say this room was off limits?!" He shouted, advancing towards me.

I tried to back up, but the table prevented me from moving back further than a foot. My elbow brushed against the purple rock, and a faint shock spread throughout my entire body. Mr. Thorn looked behind me and seemed to notice the uncovered crystal. If anything, he grew even more enraged.

"Why is that uncovered?! What did you touch?! ANSWER ME!"

By this point, his face had grown as red as a tomato. He was clenching his fists as he kept slowly moving towards me. Then, suddenly, his eyes widened and he seemed to calm down. I could see him thinking hard, muttering something under his breath.

I had to get out of here, but to get out, I'd have to get past him. I needed time to think of a way out of here.

"What is all this?" I asked. "And why were you being so secretive? Nothing here looks illegal or anything?"

He scowled and narrowed his eyes.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Fine, I suppose I can indulge your curiosity a little, you've already seen too much for me to consider letting you go. That crystal there was once part of a device that was able to unlock the potential hidden within a select few, allowing them to use powers beyond anyone's wildest dreams. I managed to... come across some notes from a rather genius man. He was one of the few that knew how the device worked in its entirety, and I have been attempting to recreate his work."

"But why all this secrecy? Can't you just work for the government? They'd probably be thrilled to have someone with your knowledge and resources working for them."

Thorn snorted, "Don't you think I've already thought of that, you idiot boy? Do you think I like working in secrecy? No, working with them would be too restrictive, I wouldn't be allowed to do things my way. But that's enough of that. You should have listened to my warning, I can't have you going around talking about my work, they'll find it and confiscate everything, and that can't happen!"

A manic gleam could be seen in his eyes. His condition was much worse than his wife and I had thought, his obsession with his work had consumed his mind, just what was so special about this crystal?

Seeing that Thorn was done with his explanation, I quickly grabbed the purple crystal behind me and raised it up, my arms shaking slightly from its weight, as well as my anxiety.

"Don't come any closer, or I swear I'll break it!"

Thorn stopped for a second, looking slightly fearful, before quickly schooling his expression, that dangerous gleam in his eye never disappearing.

"Please, like a fall from that height will break the crystal, I know it's much more durable than that. And machines can be rebuilt. My continued secrecy is worth far more than a small setback."

He pulled a small pocket knife from his pocket and sighed, "I'm sorry it's come to this, it really could have ended quite differently, but that's how it is."

As he got closer, I could hear and feel the blood pumping through my veins, the noise drowning out all other sounds. My muscles tightened up and my breathing became shallow. I couldn't die, not like this. Not after everything that I'd been through. Everything I had yet to do.

My arms momentarily grew weak, and I almost dropped the crystal, catching it before it had even fallen a foot. In my panic, I didn't even realize that I had flipped a switch on the device by accident, and a low, quiet hum started emanating from it.

The blood pounding in my ears suddenly quieted down, and everything seemed to become much clearer and slower. It felt as if the entire world had gone into slow motion. I could see the knife and it slowly inched its way towards my chest. As it made contact, I heard a small explosion, and a sudden burst of energy fill my body. Thorn was blasted back as a purple glow started to surround me. Small sparks of electricity burst from my body, as the energy actually started to lift me up into the air. The smell of ozone hung heavy in the air. Scared, I tried to drop the device, but my hands wouldn't comply, they refused to let go. The energy coursing through my body continued to rise, until it finally culminated in a giant explosion that shook the entire house. As I fell back to the ground, the last thing I heard before blacking out was a cry of pain.

* * *

Waking up, all I felt was pain. Every nerve felt like it was on fire and every bone felt crushed and broken beyond belief. As I laid there, the pain slowly started to recede, but not completely. I slowly started to get up, groaning as the pain flared again.

'I... I have to get out of here.'

Looking up and around the room, I winced when I noticed Mr. Thorn's body, impaled on one of his own machines, blood flowing from the wound, his blank eyes looking in my general direction.

That's when I felt it, a sort of... yearning. I started walking towards Thorn's corpse, my hand outstretched. There was no thought behind the action, just a sort of primal instinct that awakened when I saw the blood flowing from his wound. When I was within arm's length, I reached out and touched my hand to the wound. I watched, transfixed, as the blood slowly started crawling towards my hand, disappearing into it as it made contact. As more and more of the blood disappeared into my hand, I began to feel more and more invigorated. The pain ebbed away before finally disappearing. As the pain vanished, so did the yearning, and my mind started to clear.

I was simultaneously horrified and fascinated by what had just occurred. And I knew more than ever that I had to leave. I had touched the wound, and they would probably find other evidence of my being there. I could be convicted of murder, and spend the rest of my life in prison. I had to go.

I turned away from the now bloodless corpse and headed back up the stairs. I quickly found my way to the entrance of the house and stepped out. Taking a quick look around the neighborhood, I noticed that the explosion seemed to cause a power outage, it was also eerily silent. I started running down the street, ignoring everything but my strong desire to get away as fast as possible. As I ran I slowly started to pick up speed, everything around me becoming a blur. It only took an hour or so for me to make it to the outskirts of the city, right by the highway, where I finally stopped running and just sat down against a random light post.

Everything felt heavy. I had just killed a man, no matter how inadvertently, and then drained him dry of his blood. That wasn't normal, not in any sense of the word. It was criminal and insane. The only comfort I had was that it was in self defense, but even that wasn't much. I was a conduit, a freak, they would look for any excuse to put me away forever.

I buried my face in my hands and groaned. My entire life had just gone to shit. I was barely even 17 and I was out on the streets. But I refused to breakdown. That wouldn't help me at all. What I had to do was hide. Hide until all this blew over and then start a new life, preferably somewhere as far away from here as possible. My new... abilities could help keep me safe long enough for me to get a fresh start. But to survive in whatever place I ended up, I would have to learn to defend myself, my powers could only get me so far, and against another conduit or other super powered person they would only even the playing field, the rest was up to me. I had no delusions that I wouldn't eventually be found, but until then I had to get ready.

The only question was, where would I go? I trudged my way closer to the highway, hoping that there would be a sign, a metaphorical one or a literal one, I didn't care, that would show me where to go. As I neared the highway, I looked up at a sign.

'Huh, well, if there's any place one can go to disappear for a while, that's definitely it. Gotham City... 235 miles.' I sigh and stick my thumb out to the side, the universal sign for hitchhikers. This is going to be a long trip.


	2. Welcome to Gotham

Chapter 2: Welcome to Gotham/Training

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my OC's, any characters and references from Infamous and DCU belong to their respective owners.

"This is speech"

'This is thought'

 **Warning: Gore**

Note: I don't condone any crimes that are done or mentioned in this chapter. It's just an essential part of Gotham, as well as David's development as a character.

* * *

"Stop, right here is fine." I told my driver, looking out the window into the street.

"You sure man? The slums, hell, this entire city can get quite dangerous after dark."

"I said I was fine." I replied, irritated at his questioning

"Alright man, if you say so. And feel free to keep that coat, people might get freaked out by how you look, especially at night."

I said a quick thanks to the irritating man that had driven me to the city, and stepped out in a hurry, a visible cloud of smoke following after me. I briefly waved goodbye as the car sped away, coughing wildly as soon as it turned a corner. Seriously, who the hell smokes an entire pack of cigarettes without even rolling down a window?! Was he trying to kill both of us?!

I started walking down the street, noticing that the sun was already starting to set. I frowned, the driver wasn't wrong in saying that staying out at night was a bad idea. The Bat did a lot in helping stop many of the crimes that happened in the city, but even he couldn't be everywhere.

It had taken me 2 whole days to get to Gotham, most of it spent trying to find someone who was willing to drive a person who looked as freakish as I now did.

My clothes were all burnt up and torn in some places from the violent activation of my powers, which also resulted in some physical changes. I didn't notice those until my driver pointed them out to me. Where before my skin was lightly tan, it was now deathly pale, almost ashen. My fingernails had lengthened and curved, ending with a sharp point.

The change that I most despised, however, was to my eyes. Before the accident, they had been a deep brown, a color that my dad and I shared. They were now a dark red, making my eyes unsettling to look at. I know because my driver kept pointing out how weird they are, even giving me an old coat so I could pull the hood up, hiding my face from everyone. Not that I'm not grateful for the piece of clothing, but what an asshole!

'I should find some place to stay for the night, before all the criminals come out to do their thing.'

I pulled the hood over my face, put my hands in the pockets, and started walking in a direction, keeping an eye out for any abandoned buildings or back alleys I could stay and sleep in. Seeing as I had absolutely no money on me, those were probably my best options right now.

I held back a wince as I saw a mother with her kid take a single look at me, and immediately cross over onto the opposite side of the street. Not that I could blame her. Even with the coat and hood hiding most of my features, I still must have looked pretty suspicious with my pale skin and hood down. I looked like I had something to hide.

My jaw clenched as I noticed a few stares and whispers being directed my way from some random strangers I passed. I just kept moving forward, doing my best to ignore them, still looking around for a place to stay the night.

The gods must have decided to take pity on me today, because I hadn't walked far before I found a building that was perfect. It was half destroyed, had mold growing on the graffiti-ridden walls, and looked like it had been empty for years. I couldn't have found a more perfect place.

I run over to the building and step inside. It smelled horrible and the air felt heavy from all the mold and particles floating around, but there was a roof (even if it was mostly destroyed), so I was happy. I went upstairs to the 2nd floor, seeing that it was much cleaner than the 1st. Though that wasn't saying much.

The stairs creaked under my weight. The place was a complete mess, a bunch of random crap laying everywhere. I went over to the cleanest looking wall, clearing the floor around it of any used cigarettes and beer bottles. Then I leaned against the wall and fell right to sleep, my exhaustion finally taking its toll on me.

* * *

I was woken by a shrill scream coming from somewhere down the street. It was pitch black outside, probably way past midnight, but I could see just fine. Another change caused by my transformation, most likely. I quickly went downstairs and outside, trying to see what was going on.

"Help!"

There was that voice again, it seemed to be coming from an alley right across the street. Upon closer inspection, shadows could be seen moving about in frantic, fervent motions. I walked over, careful to keep my footsteps silent, just in case.

Looking into the alley, a woman could be seen being pressed against a wall by a short but stocky man in a leather jacket. He probably thought he looked cool or something. The woman was acting hysterical, tears about to stream down her face, her voice starting to become hoarse from all the yelling.

"Help! Help me! Someone please!"

"Shut up bitch! No one can hear you. You're only making things harder for yourself!"

The woman was in tears now.

"Why are you doing this, just let me go!"

The man grinned a toothless smile that made both the woman and myself recoil in disgust.

"Why not? Some buddies of mine are distracting the Bat with a heist downtown, so we have the night all to ourselves."

I could feel my blood boil as the man said this. I had known that such bastards existed in the world, but I hadn't seen one in person yet, or at least not while he was in the middle of committing a crime. My vision started to grow red as I felt a surge of bloodlust accompanying my anger. I had to do something to stop this!

I started to move towards the two but hesitated, my head clearing momentarily. I looked down at my hands with their imitation claws. I had the power to stop this, but could I stoop so low as to risk killing a man in cold blood? Would I even be able to control myself? What if I saw some blood on the woman, would I drain her dry, all because I couldn't control my impulses? Thorn's death had been an accident, and it was in self defense, but this would be straight up murder.

My decision was made for me as I gazed upon the terrified face of the woman. I steeled my resolve. It didn't matter if I hadn't gained full control over my impulses, I would just have to make sure that I didn't lose any control. I couldn't leave this woman to a fate worse than death.

I stepped around the corner and into the alley, walking towards the two as confidently as I could, given the situation. I pulled my hood down, I'd need to be able to see if I was going to be any help. Seeing the man run his hand up the woman's leg brought back my rage, as well as the bloodlust. The woman saw me first, her eyes widening a little as she stopped screaming and started trembling in fear.

I guess that driver was also right about me looking menacing at night. Damn him.

The man still hadn't seen me, too busy reveling over his victory and future "conquest". He did, however, notice when the woman went quiet.

"What's wrong darling? Finally realized how pointless screaming is? Why don't you make this even easier and-"

The rest of his sentence was cut short as I reached him. I grabbed the man by the back of his jacket, and used my enhanced strength to throw him headfirst into the side of a dumpster about 10 feet away. I turned towards the woman.

"GO!" I almost growled, struggling not to give in to my rage.

The woman ran away in fear, not even bothering to respond. I turned towards the dazed thug laying on the ground and my bloodlust skyrocketed. I tried to rein it in but by then it was too late and it quickly overwhelmed me.

I turned the man over so he was facing me and punched him in the face with all my strength. The back of his head hit the cement, not making his headache any better. The second punch broke his nose, any blood that remained on my hand quickly getting absorbed. The third punch knocked him unconscious, but I didn't stop. Any part of me that would have stopped was gone now, replaced by the monster that had been created when I got my powers. Or maybe it had always existed, and the powers were just an outlet?

The punches quickly became sloppy, becoming simply a way to channel all the rage that I had been feeling for the past 2 years, ever since my father's death. The blood staining my hands quickly became absorbed, only to have more blood replace it a second later. I kept punching, not even stopping when the rapist's skull cracked, and then finally shattered, his entire head caving in and spilling blood all over the floor. I continued punching until I got a more bloody idea. I opened up my fists and starting swiping with my claws, each one giving what used to be his face a new, deep incision, spraying blood all over the walls.

I continued in this fashion until my rage finally started to dissipate, ending the savage assault with a double handed hammer strike, hearing a satisfying crack as more of his skull cracked and split. I wasted no time in placing my hand on the mixture of blood, muscle, bone, and brain matter that was once the man's face, and draining it dry of any blood.

I continued draining blood, using the man's open neck to get any that was residing in his body. I shivered as the blood entered my body, filling me with energy and strength, as well as a strange euphoric feeling that only made me want more.

I stood up and looked around. The entire alley was a mess, blood littered the walls and my hands, though that was slowly disappearing, and don't even get me started on the man that was the victim of my beating, if you could even call it that. His head was practically no more than a pile of bloodless flesh.

My rage had yet to fully dissipate, and I kept it purposefully, knowing that once it faded there was a large chance that I would have a mental breakdown.

My mind was almost mechanical as I went through the paces most murderers go through in the shows on television. I hid the body in the abandoned building I had slept in earlier, taking the man's wallet since I was in need of money. Then I went back into the alley and cleaned up as best as I could with no supplies, throwing any remains of his body into one of the garbage bags in the dumpster. Jeez, not even one day in Gotham and I had already committed a murder, what was with this city?

I made one final check to make sure everything was cleaned up as best as I could, and started walking down the street.

As I walked through the night, my rage and bloodlust slowly started to ebb away. A sick feeling settled its way into my stomach, and I felt a small pain in my heart. I felt a cold feeling of emptiness as I realized what I had just done. I stopped and threw up right there in the middle of the sidewalk, not caring about anything else but wanting to get rid of the sickness that I felt in both my body and mind.

I continued until my stomach was empty, and then leaned against the wall, all the strength accumulated from the man's blood seemingly disappearing and leaving me very weak.

I had done it. I had crossed the threshold. I was a murderer.

I dry heaved as I thought that word, disgusted at myself. But there was no denying it, I was a murderer. And I had done it in such a brutal and savage way too. Was I any better than some animal on the street, that couldn't control itself or didn't know any better? I choked out a sob as I continued my mental tirade. Feeling absolutely horrible that I had taken someone's life.

I stood that way for a few minutes, leaning against the wall for support. I waited until I had enough strength to continue. I eventually managed to start walking down the street, as far away from the dead body as I possibly could.

'I couldn't control myself. I tried but it was too overwhelming. Is this going to happen every time something makes me feel angry? Or every time I fight someone? This can't happen again.' I thought in a panic.

A small surge of determination was able to override my sick feeling for a little, but not long.

'I have to find somewhere private to train these abilities. I was arrogant in the fight, if you could even call it that. I believed that my powers were mine to control, but it was instead my powers that controlled me. I have to learn how to control myself, so that something like this doesn't happen again.'

I then looked down as I remembered the reason for my current weak condition.

No matter how I phrase it, or how it looks, I just killed a man. Did he deserve it? Probably. But who am I to make that choice? But I couldn't let him rape that woman. But I could have just left him after he was knocked out.'

"AAAAAAH!" I yelled in frustration.

I couldn't decide what to think. That man was a horrible piece of scum, but did killing him make me any better than him? Didn't it make me even worse?!

These thoughts continued to plague me throughout the rest of the night and well into the morning. As I saw the sun rise up over the horizon, I realized that I had been walking the entire night. I turned and entered an alleyway, feeling a surge of emotion as I gazed upon the familiar visage. A shuddering gasp escaped me as I struggled to hold in my emotions. I started walking further into the alley. My struggle continued in this manner until I reached a point in the middle where I saw a pile of garbage bags. In my sleep-deprived and stressed mind they looked like the most comfortable things that ever existed. Physically and emotionally drained, I laid down and closed my eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

* * *

I woke up later that day, and didn't know what to do. I blinked back a few tears as I remembered the events of last night, but reminded myself that I couldn't spend all day crying for my lost innocence. I had things to do. I couldn't let an episode like last night happen again, I had to gain control of my powers and not go on anymore rampages. EVER!

I had planned last night to begin training myself in controlling both my powers and myself, but how do I do that? The actual powers I could probably figure out, but how do I train myself in not allowing my bloodlust to take over?

I put that in the back of my mind for now, my hunger making itself apparent as my stomach growled.

I took the rapist's wallet out of my pocket, checking if it had any money in it. There was only a few bucks, barely enough for breakfast, or lunch, I suppose.

As I put the wallet back into the coat, I paused for a second and shuddered, the events from last night playing out in my mind's eye. I took a few deep breaths, and was able to eventually calm myself down enough to thrust the events of last night back into the back of my mind. What's done is done. I couldn't change the past.

I pulled my hood up over my face and started looking for some cheap fast food joint where I could get something to eat.

As I sat at the table in the restaurant eating my burger, I looked around at the various people sitting around me. I noticed that others would glance away as my eyes passed over them. Did they know about what I had done?! Was it already in the news?! I took another deep breath, forcing myself to stop panicking. I decided to just ignore the strangers and instead focus on what I was going to do for the rest of the day.

First I had to find somewhere I could train, an abandoned building like the one I had found last night would be suitable. It just had to be away from any prying eyes. Then I had to find some way to get more money, the meager amount in the wallet had already run out.

I finished eating and got out of there. As I was walking down the street I heard the sound of something falling and a cry of pain. Startled, I looked around wildly looking for the source. My eyes eventually settled on a child that had fallen off his bike and skinned his hands and knees.

He was just sitting there bawling his eyes out, kind of pathetic, but what can you expect. My gaze, however, was instantly drawn to his wounds, a few small droplets of blood already escaping them. I could already feel it, kind of like a small voice in the back of my head, telling me to get it, to rip the kid and anyone else apart if they interfered in us getting what was rightfully ours. The pull was strong, but nowhere near what it was last night. I shook my head and walked away, sparing a short glance of longing towards the wound.

As I got further away, the longing went away, and I felt scared. That voice had wanted me to kill again, and it wasn't even a criminal it was directed at this time either, but some innocent kid! Any pride I felt at resisting the pull was overwhelmed by my sheer determination for making sure that I would control myself, I couldn't let any innocent people get hurt because of any laziness or lack of training on my part. Besides, the real test would come when I was confronted with a wound when angry or already not thinking clearly.

I continued walking until I returned to the slums, with its plethora of abandoned buildings, all perfect places for training my powers. Though I stayed far away from the area I had been it last night. Going back there would do nothing but bring back horrible memories.

The streets were mostly empty. There were a few people still lingering around, but I paid them no mind. I walked into the nearest building and went into a room further inside. There was mold growing on the walls and the paint had long since faded, but it was perfect for my purposes. There was an old, broken down couch in the middle of the room. I pushed the couch over to the side, leaving me with a large room all to myself.

I stood in the center facing one of the walls.

'Okay, now how should I do this?'

First I tried to see if I could summon the blood that I had already collected to the surface. I held up my palm and concentrated, imagining the blood flowing through my body and out into my hand. Nothing happened. I thought back to when I had previously used my powers, and started thinking about that yearning feeling that I felt whenever I saw someone else's blood. As I let the feeling fill me, that whispering started again, but since there was no one to direct it to, it was overwhelmed by my desire to not let it consume me and it shut up. I felt something connect in my mind. Like a switch that was being flipped in my brain.

There was a small tingling sensation and my palm felt wet as a dark red liquid started pooling into it. I stared at it for a few seconds, before cutting off the feeling, stopping the connection and the flow of blood.

I took a deep breath and continued, focusing again on that feeling. The connection came much faster this time. I focused my mind, and watched as a small tendril of the blood broke away from the pool lying in my hand. I stretched it and molded it, twisting it into different shapes and sizes as I practiced manipulating it to my will.

I grew tired of that quickly, and decided to try something more offensive. I let more blood flow into my hand until it was the size of a softball. I drew my hand back and threw it, only to watch in dismay as it broke apart the second it left my hand and splashed harmlessly against the wall.

I walked up to the stain and absorbed it before it could dry, then went back to where I was before.

'It seems that once the blood leaves my hand I lose control over it, that could be a problem. Although, maybe it doesn't have to leave my hand...?'

I stretched out my hand in front of me, and built a small ball in my hand like before. This time, however, I let a tendril stretch out towards the wall, supplying it with more blood as it ran out. When it reached the wall 15 feet away, I retracted it back as fast as I could. The entire process took about 20 seconds from when the tendril first left my hand to when it was all absorbed again.

I continued in this fashion for the next few hours, taking breaks only when the feeling of longing and bloodlust started to overwhelm me. My self-control when using my powers had increased as a result. I would have to wait and see if that helped at all when confronted by an enemy or a wound. I tried out a few new things and improved what I learned as much as I could.

By the end I had shortened the time required for the tendril to only 4 seconds, improving how fast I could absorb blood as a side-effect.

I also learned how to form small, solid constructs of blood. Small blades and brass knuckles around my fists were easy to form, but they were brittle and lost their form after only a few hits. Larger constructs fell apart almost instantly, something I would have to work on. Not to mention the fact that I had to keep in contact with them or they would crumble. Changing the blood into a gaseous state was also within my capabilities, but I couldn't bring it back to a liquid so I stopped in fear of running out.

The last thing I worked on was seeing what my limits were. I found out that I could bring a total of about 3 gallons of blood out of my body at the current moment. Anymore after that and I started to feel faint, probably because I started drawing upon my own blood instead of my reserves.

'Where does all that blood even go when I'm not using it?' I thought to myself, before shrugging. There was probably some scientific explanation that I wouldn't understand that could explain it, so I didn't worry about it.

I decided then to test out some of my physical attributes. Jumping straight up revealed that I could clear 4 feet without too much trouble. I stopped the jumping there for fear of hitting my head on the ceiling. Trying to lift the old couch revealed that I could do it, but only if I put a little effort into it. Not bad considering I hadn't exercised a day in my life before.

Exiting the building, I noticed that it was dark out.

'Huh, must have been in there for longer than I thought.'

I began to walk down the street, looking for a place I could sleep. Hopefully I wouldn't have to sleep among trash bags again. As I was walking, my mind started to wander, thinking about all the things that had happened in the past few days. Had they discovered Mr. Thorns body yet? Were there people out there looking for me? Would I be accused of killing that rapist and sent to jail?

"Well what do we have here?"

My thoughts were interrupted as a man stepped out of the shadows, holding a large knife in his hand menacingly. I cursed, I shouldn't have let myself get so distracted in one of America's most crime-ridden cities... at night.

"Most people would learn by now that it isn't that safe at night around here. Oh well, your loss, my gain. You know the drill, just give me anything valuable you've got on ya and I'll let ya live."

The man had an almost bored look on his face as he demanded I give him all my possessions. It was infuriating. I took a calming breath, now would be the real test, I would get to see if my training helped me control myself. If I could stop myself before I killed him.

"Hey kid, are ya deaf? I said give me all you got!" He was starting to get irritated, that much was obvious as I looked at his face.

I ignored him.

As the man raised his knife and made to speak again, probably to threaten me, I cut him off. I crossed the distance between us in a second, forming brass knuckles in my right hand and punching him as hard as I could in the face, the construct in my hand shattering as it made contact. I could hear and feel his nose breaking beneath my fist. He stumbled back, both hands clutching his nose, his knife forgotten. He looked surprised, but he got over it quickly as he started to look angry. He picked up the knife and stepped towards me swinging it. I quickly back stepped and summoned my powers again.

A thin tendril shot out of my hand and impacted the mugger's chest, pushing him back a few feet. The mugger's eyes widened.

"You're one of those freaks, aren't ya?"

He seemed to struggle for a bit, seemingly reconsidering trying to kill me. Then his gaze hardened and his fingers tightened around his knife.

"Guess I'll just do the world a favor and get rid of one of you." He said in a frightful monotone.

He started attacking me with increased fervor. I was hard pressed to keep dodging, my enhanced senses only helping so much against his determined assault.

I raised both my hands and prepared myself, this would take a lot of control.

Two strands of blood shot out of my hands, both wrapping themselves around the mugger's wrists. Concentrating, I lifted him up. He started flailing around, yelling, trying to get the blood off. But it was a useless endeavor, his hands were being held up and he was nowhere near strong or heavy enough to try to break free. I quickly brought him up another few feet, and then slammed him down on the ground. I heard a few things crack, and I grew worried. Had I accidentally killed him?

I hurriedly walked over to him and breathed a sigh of relief. He was passed out, but still breathing.

All my instincts were telling me to kill him. The voice whispered things into my ear. He had seen my powers, he could report me to the authorities. I ignored those words to the best of my ability, I wouldn't go out of my way killing others just for their blood. I wouldn't kill again period, not if I could help it.

'Although,' I thought, 'I don't have to take all of his blood, I could take just a little. Leaving enough for him to live'

I gulped, yet another test of the training that I had undergone in the past few hours, this one arguably even more difficult than the last. To see if I could control the amount of blood that I absorbed.

Kneeling down, I produced a knife in my hand. Grabbing his forearm, I made the smallest of incisions on one of the smallest veins visible. As the blood started flowing out, I placed one of my fingers on it and started absorbing it, careful not to give into the hunger I was feeling.

It felt amazing, and it was a real struggle not to give into the feeling. I had to go against all of my instincts not to absorb everything and leave him a bloodless husk. Sweat started forming on my brow as I put more and more willpower into not taking everything. Once I had taken about a liter, I decided to stop. Using all of my remaining willpower, I took my finger off the wound and stopped absorbing the man's blood.

I smiled, I had done it. I had resisted the temptation. It had taken a lot more out of me than I anticipated, but I was one step closer in controlling my powers, instead of letting them control me.

I looked around confused, I could have sworn I just heard someone laughing. I shrugged, must be the stress getting to me.

After using another knife to cut into the man's shirt and ripping off a strip, I wrapped it around his arm where the cut was, trying to make sure he wouldn't die from blood loss when I left.

When it looked like he wouldn't be bleeding out anytime soon, I stood up and started walking away. But then quickly went back and started digging through the man's pockets before I found his wallet. Opening it up, I found quite a bit more than before, about $360. More than enough to sustain me until I got a job, provided that wouldn't take too long.

'Looks like he's mugged quite a few people already. Oh well, his loss, my gain.' I thought, smiling at the irony.

* * *

I sighed as I laid down on the cement, using my coat as a pillow.

'I really better not make a habit of this. Once I find a way to get a steady source of income I'll find someplace to stay, no matter how shitty. Anything's better than sleeping outside in an alley.'

I had accomplished what I said I was going to accomplish today. The training was going to have to become an everyday thing, since it obviously helped given the mugger was still alive (hopefully).

'First I need to find some way to get money, then find a place to stay.' I thought, 'But what should I do about these powers? I've already stopped a rape attempt (although in an admittedly brutal and sickening fashion) and some future mugging victims (at least for tonight), so they can obviously be used to do some good, but is it worth the risk of losing control and hurting someone?'

As I thought about this, I remembered the face of the woman that was almost raped before she was able to get away, because of me. I thought about the mugger that I had just taken out, and how many people he might have hurt if I hadn't stopped him earlier that night.

'This city might have the Bat, but he can't be everywhere at once. While he's out stopping the bank robberies, high profile cases, and super villains, it wouldn't hurt to have a... hero stopping all the smaller crimes, especially when Batman's occupied with something else.'

I nodded to myself as the idea of being a hero cemented itself in my mind.

'I killed that rapist, and that's certainly not a very heroic thing to do. At all. I'll just have to even the scales by saving as many people as I can from here on out. It won't erase what I've already done, but that's probably for the best. I'll learn from my mistake. From my weakness.'

With that thought in mind, I drifted off to sleep.

 **AN: There will probably be a time-skip next chapter, as well as more action as David finally starts using his powers for good.**


	3. Rise and Fall

Chapter 3: The Life of a hero...

 **dbenton12341: Absorbing metas' powers through blood is something I've been considering, it would be a feasible way for David to get secondary abilities (like Cole's ice/napalm powers).**

 **Btw, I don't plan on adding a harem, for any who were wondering. AN at the end.**

* * *

 **3 Months Later...**

"In recent news, Gotham's finest made a large drug bust last night after the incident was reported, strangely enough, through one of the perpetrator's phones. Officer's received the call late last night and rushed to the scene, only to find everyone already on the ground unconscious when they arrived.

"All members of the exchange were noted to have a small incision on their forearms, similar to those caused by a syringe. Investigators have been unable to find out who it was that did this. Many say that this is just another job done by our resident vigilante, but others say that this is someone new. If this is a new vigilante, are they another hero, or do they have an ulterior motive? This is Cathy Chase with 11 o'clock news, have a good night Gotham!"

I snorted as stereotypical news station music began to play.

'Good night? Is any night in Gotham 'good'?'

The radio clicked off as I stood up and stretched. I exited the room and starting walking down the stairs, pulling my hood up as I went. When I reached the bottom, I started walking towards the door, trying not to attract any attention. Sadly, my "plan" didn't work.

"Hey kid, ya got this month's rent?" A thick curl of smoke exited the landlord's lips as he stared at me through his sunken eyes.

I growled, but swallowed down the sudden surge of irritation I felt. It would be pointless to lash out at the owner of the apartment I lived in.

"I'll have it by tomorrow."

"Alright, better live up to that promise, I'm not handing out rooms for free."

"I said I'll have it."

I left without waiting for a response, the door slamming shut on my way out. The street was silent and empty. The further I got away, the less aggression I felt. I sighed.

As I got more and more experienced with my powers, I became a lot more sensitive to the presence of blood. The surges of bloodlust quickly became annoying to constantly control, but it was a necessary evil.

I took a cursory glance around before quickly ducking into a nearby alley. I winced as I remembered the incident, but time had numbed the pain, and I recovered. Seeing the alley was empty, I looked straight up at the edge of the roof and gulped nervously. I had been working up the courage to try this for a few days now, not liking the consequences if I failed.

'Well, let's see if this will actually work."

Blood pooled in my hand as I drew upon my power. The pounding in the back of my head began immediately, but I ignored it. I raised my hand towards the roof and watched as a tendril shot out of my hand and started extending towards the roof. As it reached the top, I hooked it onto the edge of the building.

I began to retract the blood as fast as I could, the hooked end stopping it from returning to my body, causing me to be pulled upwards towards the roof at a rapid pace.

The wind rushed past my face as the rooftop approached. When it was just a few feet away I let go of the roof and completely retracted the blood, letting the momentum carry me the rest of the way. I landed on the rooftop with a slight grunt, my heart pounding wildly.

'I don't think I'll ever get used to that.' I smiled, "But it definitely beats running up the stairs."

I glanced at the cheap watch on my wrist and cursed. I was going to be late!

With that small incident out of the way, I pulled up my hood and started running across the rooftops as fast as my body would allow me. I zoned out, letting my instincts take control.

* * *

In general, being out on the streets at night in Gotham wasn't a good idea. There were some places, however, that were considered much worse than normal, the Gotham City Docks being one of them.

What set the docks apart from the rest of the city was the sheer concentration of criminals and delinquents, looking to make a quick buck. It also wasn't uncommon to occasionally run into a super villain or one of the more influential gangs trying to either steal something getting shipped, or pick something up for themselves.

On the plus side, the people handing out jobs weren't too picky as to who got one, as long as you were useful. It also wasn't uncommon to wear a ski-mask, something I did on account of my appearance. They doubted a thin, weak-looking kid like me could be much help, but a quick demonstration of my enhanced strength quickly got me a job loading crates on and off ships. The pay wasn't anything spectacular, but it was as good a job as I could get considering the circumstances

Ignoring the various arguments and fights that were happening among some of more idiotic workers, I headed straight to the loading area. There were only a few people scattered around moving things back and forth, indicating that this was a regular shipment, no villains or crime bosses around. I sighed, and here I thought something interesting might actually happen.

I should really watch out what I wish for.

* * *

I worked for a few hours, loading and unloading various ships that docked throughout the night. It wasn't until 2 in the morning that I got bored and decided to quit for the night. I collected my $25 and left to go on a short patrol.

I trudged my way across the rooftops, looking for a crime, ANY crime, to alleviate my boredom. Normally, being Gotham, it's not too difficult to find some idiot trying his hand at mugging.

The crime gods, however, must have decided to take a break tonight, because I could not find a single crime taking place in the entire fucking slums. Was everyone taking a vacation? Is there some national holiday I'm not aware of? What the hell?

Eventually I got tired of running across the rooftops for no reason and sat down on the edge of one of the taller buildings, looking out across the neighborhood. I could see the tall, gothic styled skyscrapers of Gotham's downtown off in the distance.

Putting all the crime and corruption out of mind, Gotham was actually a pretty nice city. The dim lights and dark, foreboding architecture had its own appeal. I could almost see why Batman put forth so much effort into keeping the city relatively safe.

Suddenly, I felt the entire city shake as a massive explosion erupted from somewhere downtown. I leapt to my feet and watched as a huge column of smoke rose in the distance.

"What the-"  
I had to go help! But, that's also Batman's territory, and the less interaction I'm forced to have with him the better. But people could get hurt! Argh!

I took a deep breath and sighed, something I've noticed I've been doing a lot of lately.

There wasn't much going on here, and Batman might need some help saving people at least, if not fighting whoever caused this in the first place. I couldn't be a coward forever.

With my mind set, however tentatively, I ran off towards the explosion.

* * *

Finding it wasn't too difficult, the column of smoke rising high into the clouds was a big help. As I arrived on the scene, I heard police sirens and people screaming. Looking up, I could see a huge hole in the side of a building up ahead. The entire thing looked like it was about to collapse. Looking a bit closer, I could see that there were some people stuck underneath pieces of rubble. Looks like I found how I could help.

Now the issue was, how the hell was I gonna get up there? My blood grappling-hook wouldn't extend anywhere near that far up.

Cue sigh.

Looks like I'm taking the stairs.

I ran past the police barricades, the officers too overwhelmed with all the panic that the explosion caused to tell some seemingly suicidal kid to stay away.

The lower floors of the building were empty, with just a few stragglers. If anything, that just made it easier to find my way inside and towards the stairs. Thank God I didn't have to push my way through a crowd of panicked, hysterical people all rushing madly in the opposite direction.

If there's only one thing I'll ever be thankful towards regarding my powers, it'll be my ability to run up long-ass flights of stairs only slightly winded.

As I got higher, the smell of smoke and some chemicals I didn't recognize got stronger. My enhanced senses only making the smell that much worse, with an acidic smell burning the inside of my nose. And don't even get me started on the heat. I could feel it getting worse as I got higher in elevation.

Eventually I got to the bottom most area of the explosion, where most of the debris collected. Through the roaring of the flames, my enhanced hearing picked up the sound of someone yelling and shouting for help. I followed the sound until I saw who had been yelling. His suit was covered in dust from the debris, and there was a myriad of burns all over his arms and torso. That's not mentioning the giant steel beam crushing his lower body, preventing him from moving.

He kept shouting even as I got close, probably not even noticing me due to the smoke and obscuring his vision. I kneeled down and reached to grab the bottom of the beam, only to recoil in pain as my hands got burned. It seems the fire had heated up the beam very near burning levels. I winced as I realized just how much pain this man must be in at the moment.

Regardless, I calmed my nerves and stared intently at the beam, determined to at least save this man's life. I grabbed the bottom of the beam again, ignoring the literal burning pain in my palms, and lifted it a few feet, my legs buckling a little under the weight.

"Go!" I shouted, gritting my teeth in pain.

I hadn't needed to say anything, as the second that I lifted the beam, the man started crawling away as fast as he could. Seeing his legs in their entirety for the first time I almost wretched. They were covered in severe burns, and there was definitely some bone sticking out.

Hopefully he could make it down the stairs, because it wasn't long after I put down the beam that I saw a woman a dozen feet away in a very similar predicament. She, however, was stuck underneath some rubble. I looked at my hands and groaned, they were covered in 2nd degree burns (at best), and they hurt like hell.

Ignoring my pain, I started grabbing chunks of rubble and getting them off the woman. It wasn't too strenuous, and the woman probably could have even gotten out herself, if she hadn't been in what looked like shock.

As she got out, she turned towards me, probably to thank me, until she got a look at my face. I guess corpses aren't the first thing people want to see after a strenuous, mentally draining event? Her face got even more pale and she started running in the opposite direction. Although I did see her stop to help the man from earlier, who had gotten near the stairs, so I guess that's something.

I continued like that for some time, helping out anyone who I could find. Some thanked me, some ran away after seeing me, and some just bolted the second they were free, not that I minded. I could understand it given the situation they were in.

I groaned as I stretched out my back.

"So that's why they say lift with your knees, not with your back… good to know."

Taking a cursory glance at my hands, I noticed that the burns were mostly healed, with red, shiny skin being the only sign of them ever being there.

'Is that everyone?' I thought to myself.

I used my senses, trying to find anyone else that needed saving, but I couldn't locate anyone that wasn't already dead. The smoke wasn't helping at all.

With my work being done for now, I headed back down the stairs, sweat pouring down my face from the intense heat and my eyes stinging from the smoke. When I reached the bottom I quickly ran out the building, past the police officers, and into an alleyway. I leaned over, breathing heavy. It was more from the adrenaline than actual exhaustion.

Despite the intense, though now fading, pain in my palms, I felt great. I had helped people during a disaster, saving them from being burnt alive.

My thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like yet another explosion, though this time in the sky. I peaked out from the alleyway and looked up at the sky, only to see a man dressed as some sort of fly flying around trying to set things on fire with a flamethrower. He looked to be having some trouble actually damaging anything though.

On closer inspection I could see why, there was a grappling hook (rope dart?) attached to his foot, with Batman on the other end, trying to pull him down.

I shook my head.

'I better get out of here, it looks like Batman has things covered.'

With that, I turned away, and started heading back to the slums.

* * *

I was on my way back to my apartment when I heard an alarm go off briefly at a nearby jewelry store, before suddenly shutting off.

'And here I thought I was done for the night.'

I started heading towards the jewelry store instead, I had time to stop a few useless thugs before I went to bed.

I used my improvised blood grappling hook to make my way to the opposite end of the street. I landed on the roof of the building with a light thud. Guess I still needed to work on my landings.

Taking a quick look around, I noticed that the rooftop entrance was already open. Guess criminals were finally starting to figure out that heading in through the front door wasn't the smartest idea. Good for them! Still won't stop me from beating the shit out of them though.

I entered the building through the rooftop access, trying to remain as quiet as I could. As I got closer, I could hear a voice muttering to themselves, it sounded feminine.

"...rookie mistake, should really stop monologuing.."

As I neared the corner and peaked out, I was shocked to see that in the store, grabbing handfuls of rings and necklaces at a time and shoving them into a bag, was a woman wearing a skin tight, cat themed leather suit. Or at least, I assumed it was cat themed, going by the ears. She also looked to have a whip on her hip. What the hell?

'I guess sanity is a trade-off for competence? Whatever, let's just get this over with. I want to go to sleep.'

I walk out from behind the corner and started walking towards her. She hasn't noticed me yet, so I clear my throat.

I barely have enough time to react before a whip is making its way towards my head. I duck down, letting it fly over me.

'Whew, that was close!'

I try to go on the offensive, but the strikes won't stop coming! I'm doing everything in my power to not get hit, much less go after her! With every missed crack of her bullwhip there's the sound of glass shattering.

"Hmm, you're not batman...you know, he really doesn't appreciate others trespassing on his turf…" She says casually, as if she wasn't trying to seriously injure me.

I mean, seriously, if she wraps that around my neck and tugs it could snap, something I'm not sure even I could heal that quick from. Her casual dismissal of our "fight" (If you could call it that) pisses me off.

"Hey, are you that guy that's been poking needles in everyone around here! Wow, didn't know I was in the presence of a local celebrity."

The pounding in my head starts to worsen. I swear I even heard a voice shouting in the back of my mind. Egging me on to kill her. To paint the walls red with her blood.

My dark thoughts make me wince, and she takes full advantage of that fact. Her whip wraps around the arm I tried to block with in my short moment of panic. She tries to pull me towards her, but my strength is greater than hers. I grab the whip, and yank her towards me.

'Ha! Take that you….' I didn't get to finish my thought on account of her using my tug to send a jumping spinning back kick to my face.

I see stars as I'm sent flying towards one of the broken glass countertops. I land face first. I can feel countless small cuts all over my face and arms from the broken shards of glass. Superficial cuts that heal almost instantly.

I roll off the counter, and give a small grunt as I hit the ground. I form a long, serrated knife in my right hand, and use that to cut the whip that's still attached to my hand.

Now free, I quickly stand up, ready to resume the fight. Only for the store to be empty.

I clench my fists.

"Dammit! She got away!"

"Not quite kid."

I spin around, only to see her swing down from the ceiling and plant both her feet in my face. I step back and stumble over a tripwire. My head hits the edge of a countertop, and my vision goes black.

* * *

I wake up to the sound of sirens, blaring right outside the store.

"We know you're inside. Surrender or we'll use force." A loud voice blares from a megaphone.

I stand up, groggy and disoriented. Looking around, I notice that the jewelry store's completely empty. Everything's been taken.

I grit my teeth, trying to ignore my pounding headache, which for once was not caused by my powers.

'I let her get away. I had the power to stop her, and she got away.'

As I think this, the pain in my head starts to go away, only to be replaced by a familiar, is unwelcome, pounding. Apparently, the bloodthirsty beast inside me really didn't like to lose, who knew? I can almost hear a small voice in the back of my mind say, ' **If you had let me take control, you would have won….'**

I start to take deep breaths, trying to calm myself down.

' **Bested by a human, oh how the mighty have fallen.'**

"Shut up…"

' **She didn't even have any powers, guess all those feeling of superiority were misplaced.'**

"I said shut up!"

' **You're weak, you don't deserve your abilities. Without them, you're nothing special. Just some kid who murdered someone and got rewarded with power.'**

"SHUT UP!" I scream.

' **Ooh, did I touch a nerve?'**

I reach up to pull my hair, my self-doubt only fueling the beasts strength over my actions.

"I will not repeat this again, step outside with your hands behind your head!"

I turn my head to look at the window outside. Huh, completely forgot about them. My eyes are wild and darting all over the place. I need to get out of here.

I put my hood over my head and start heading towards the roof, I can make my escape from there. I stumble a few times on the way, a low growl escaping my throat. I had to leave before I lost control! I didn't want anyone else to die because of me!

' **Are you so sure about that?'**

I close my eyes for a few seconds, trying to get my head in order. My powers had never reacted this strongly to my actions before. Why couldn't the voice just leave me ALONE!

' **I'll leave you alone when you admit to yourself about who you really are, a cold-blooded murderer!'**

My eyes start to sting from some tears I refuse to let fall.

' **Hmph, pathetic.'**

When I finally get up top, I take a quick look around and breathe a sigh of relief. No one in sight, thank.

"Going somewhere?" I hear a deep voice say from above me.

I jump up, my hands going up into some poor facsimile of a fighting stance. I turn around and look up. My eyes widen and my throat goes dry. Although I think that's a typical reaction when one finds themselves in front of the dark knight. I can't make out more than a silhouette against the backdrop of the moon, but he's definitely more intimidating in person than on TV.

"No no no no no…This can't be happening!" I murmur to myself.

"Please, you have to go! I can't hurt anyone, not again!" I plead.

Batman doesn't respond, he just watches me from above.

' **Ooh, looks like someone's in trouble. How are you going to get out of this one?** **You've already proven you can't win a fight, even against a human.'**

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP! YOU DON'T CONTROL ME!" I scream out. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Batman, he remains stoic.

' **Oh, but I do. You'll see soon enough…'**

I ready to start shouting again when I'm interrupted, by Batman.

"You're that small time vigilante that's been operating in the poorer parts of Gotham. Why switch to thievery?" He says this all in a very succinct manner.

"That wasn't me! It was this lady in leather! With a whip! I know how crazy that sounds, but I swear, it wasn't me!"

He doesn't respond for a few tense moments. Whether he's thinking or just watching me panic for the fun of it I'll never know.

Finally, he says something.

"Even assuming that's true, I'll still have to bring you in for questioning…."

"No! You can't do that!"

"And why not."

"I'll hurt someone! Please, you can't take me to the police!

' **Sad to see the blubbering mess that you've become.'**

"QUIET! I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU!" My voice is starting to hurt from all shouting.

This entire time, I can see batman out of the corner of my eye. Silently observing me.

"You keep mentioning that you're going to hurt someone, you can understand why I can't let you leave this rooftop?"

He drops down from his ledge and lands a few feet in front of me. His cape fluttering slightly.

"This will go by much more smoothly if you surrender. There are places that can get you the help you need, if you let them."

"I don't need help! I just want to be left alone! I can't let you take me!"

In my panic driven frenzy, I raise my hand and shoot out a tendril of blood. It strikes Batman's chest and knocks him a few feet back into the wall, but he recovers almost instantly and starts to head towards me.

I panic and start shooting more and more tendrils at him, but he dodges them all! He gets in close and throws a punch, which I barely manage to dodge. I cover my hand in blood, forming a glove with spiked knuckles, and punch at his midsection, but he sidesteps it and delivers a kick to my midsection.

I double over in pain, but throw myself to the side, barely missing a punch to the temple. I scramble to my feet, clutching my ribs. I see Batman throw a few pellets in my direction. I watch as they roll towards me and stop at my feet.

"Was that supposed to do somethi…?"

Suddenly they explode into smoke. The heavy scent of some chemical I can't identify fills the air. I start to cough, and I can feel my eyes start to droop. I can feel my body fighting it, but with every rasping breath I inhale more, and eventually my body starts becoming overwhelmed.

I stumble in place, "Please… Don't let them...Don't let me...Hurt...anyone."

With that, I lose consciousness.

* * *

My entire body feels numb. I keep floating in and out of consciousness.

"...and that's why I think we should just toss him in with the other crazies."

"He's not even an adult yet, he won't survive a single day!"

"You saw the footage, he's crazy. Keeps talking to himself and threatening to hurt innocent civilians. Not to mention he's a meta. He'll fit right in."

"Yeah but still… wait. You see that? I think he's waking up."

I hear some shuffling of equipment and feel something get wrapped around my head, covering my mouth.

"There there, can't have you waking up just yet…"

Everything starts to fade away again.

* * *

I groan and toss my head to the side in discomfort. I open my eyes and notice that I'm strapped to a chair. My arms are tied to the arm rests, and my feet to the legs.

"H-Hello? Anyone out there?"

I'm in an almost completely blank and empty room. There is nothing around me except for another chair a few feet in front of me.

I start to shout.

"HELLO!? ANYONE!?"

Suddenly a door opens off to the side. I hadn't noticed it before due to it blending in perfectly with the surrounding wall. In walks a man wearing some sort of uniform. He sits down in the chair opposite mine.

He makes himself comfortable and adjusts a paper on a clipboard. He looks up and smiles.

"Hey there, how are you doing today?"

"Wh...what? W-Wh..."

"Why are you here? Well, that's something only you can answer. Just know that we're here to help."

"I don't get it, what happened? Where am I? What's going on?"

The man chuckles. "I understand you're confused, I know I sure as heck would be. But don't worry, we here at Arkham Asylum will take good care of you."

* * *

 **AN: Hello. I don't really have an excuse for why I haven't uploaded in over a year. I've always struggled with procrastination, and that combined with intense writer's block and lack of enthusiasm resulted in me not posting in over a year. I'm not terribly proud of this chapter, I honestly just wanted to get it over with in an attempt to hopefully get over my writer's block. Hopefully I was able to get the character's at least somewhat right, it's my first time writing with someone else's characters. I'll try to get the next chapter out in less than a year (With luck, in a few months), but I won't make a promise I'm not sure I can keep. As I've said before, the more support I see for this to continue, the more likely I'll be able to get a chapter out faster. This isn't abandoned. Hope you have a good day.**


	4. Happy Birthday to Me

Chapter 4 - Happy Birthday to Me...

 **AN: Before you read this chapter, I went back and changed a few minor things in the previous chapters. The main difference is that I aged David up three years, he's 17 rather than 14, if you don't feel like re-reading.**

* * *

 **Four Months Later…**

I startle slightly as I hear a knock on the door.

"Hey! Rise and shine, it's a special day today!"

The door creaks opens and I wince at the sudden brightness. In walks one of my psychologists, as well as around six guards.

"Well, you know the drill." One of the guards remarks, a sneer on his face

I stand up from where I was sitting in the corner and catch a pair of gloves tossed haphazardly. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and put them on slowly, making sure to show I'm putting on all the straps correctly.

The same guard from earlier steps forward with a straitjacket in his hand. He's walking towards me cautiously, like one would approach a wild animal. I roll my eyes.

"Jesus, why are you walking so fucking slow. I don't bite." I grin at him.

' **Yes, but you do claw.'**

My grin fades and I turn my head and see my doppelganger standing a few feet away. He looks exactly like me, or at least how I did before "The Incident", as I had affectionately named it. Not counting the red eyes, of course, that feature we shared.

"Hey! That was an accident!"

He raises an eyebrow, ' **You accidentally stabbed a guard in the thigh with a fork, broke his arm, and clawed his face?'**

I shrug, "I tripped?"

"Hey freak, quit talking to yourself! You ain't spookin anyone with that act." The guard that was walking towards me says.

"Don't call him a freak Edward! That's dehumanizing and not the attitude one should take when dealing with mental patients!" My shrink admonished.

"Yeah Eddy, stop being such a bitch." I retort.

He growls and his hand reaches for a device in his pocket. He presses a button and a sharp jolt of electricity shocks me, originating from the power-inhibiting collar around my neck. My legs temporarily stop working as I fall to the floor, convulsing as the electricity courses through my body like thousands of red hot knives.

He points at my shrink, "You don't tell me what to fucking do," He points at me, "And you shut the fuck up. I don't wanna hear another word out of you."

He picks me up so I'm on my feet, if barely, and puts the straitjacket on me. I can feel him put the straps on just a little too tight.

"Now come on, we're taking you to the rest of the inmates, no more special treatment for you." He walks out of the room, as do most of the other guards.

I'm still a little wobbly on my feet, but I start walking along with them.

We all walk in silence as we make our way through the Asylum. It's not long before we reach a large, steel door that marks the exit of Arkham's juvenile ward, of which I was the only resident.

After a quick walk through a courtyard, we arrive at Arkham's main building, the one that housed the majority of the convicts.

I spot the Doppelganger out of the corner of my eye, walking alongside the group. He notices me looking and smirks, I scowl.

As we get near where the convicts are kept, I start to hear a muted roar.

'The criminally insane sure are a rambunctious bunch, aren't they?'

The final door separating me and them slides open with a quiet hiss, the muted roar turns into a cacophony of screams and shouts. Everyone is currently in their cells, but that doesn't stop them from shouting at each other and jeering at the guards escorting me through the asylum.

Eventually we arrive at what I assume is my cell. One of the guards undoes the straps on my straitjacket, takes it off, then shoves me in and quickly closes the door behind me.

Eddy looks in through the small, barred opening on the door and says, "Enjoy your new life, kid. And happy birthday." He and the guards then leave. My shrink stays for a few extra moments to tell me my schedule will remain the same, then leaves as well.

I walk over to the bed and sit down. It creaks and groans under my weight. The doppelganger stands in front of me, looking down on me.

I sigh and rest my head in my hands.

"What do you want? The answer's still no."

' **Are you sure? I know how miserable you feel, being lumped in with these maniacs. I could make that all go away.'**

I glare at him, "As long as I have a say, you won't ever take control! Being stuck in this dump is better than having you wreak havoc across the city!"

' **You can hold onto your delusions for now,' He scoffs, 'but you'll have to take that collar off eventually. And when you do, I won't even have to try, you'll hand yourself over willingly.'**

"Shut up…"

' **And that's what really bothers you, isn't it? That no matter what you do, it'll all be pointless in the end-'**

"SHUT UP!" I get up and throw a haymaker, but when my fist gets near he disappears. I hear mocking laughter in the back of my head.

* * *

I stare morosely at the disgusting slop on my tray.

'Can't say I was expecting a five star course, but what the hell is this shit?'

I was at lunch. Or at least, I think it was lunch. It was impossible to tell time in here. No windows, just the same fluorescent lights all the time. I've been here for maybe three days, and I'm already sick of it.

I look up as I hear a crash from across the room. One of the inmates had just stabbed another with a shiv, who then broke his tray over the first ones head. Then they both got tased. A standard affair from what I can tell.

I was sitting alone in corner, mostly out of habit due to my long months of near-total isolation. Thank God that people who wanted to be left alone were generally left to their own devices. Villains like Freeze were a good example of how fucking around with super villains could get you killed the second there was a breakout. I guess everyone just assumed I was one because of my appearance.

Some of the criminals may appear to act somewhat friendly, but there was always an ulterior motive. You could never tell who was just an insane bank robber or mugger looking to join a gang, and who was a sociopathic killer.

There were always those, however, that sought to make allies with every new person that walked through the door, I call those guys suicidal. I've been lucky so far to not have run into any of those types.

I watch as an average looking, brown-haired man sits in front of me. He's very unkempt, to the point I'd easily confuse him for some homeless guy. He smiles confidently, but I can see him sweating.

"What the hell do you want?" I ask bluntly.

He appears startled for a second that I didn't just get up and start beating the shit out of him, but he recovers quickly. He grins.

"Hey there friend! I noticed you're new here, so I thought I'd help you out! Show you the ropes, as they say. Whatcha think?" He extends his hand out for me to shake.

I'm already regretting my decision to not beat the shit out of him. I ignore his attempt at a handshake.

"We're not 'friends', so don't call me that. Also, who the hell are you?"

"Ah, sorry bout that. I didn't introduce myself! The names Walker, and you could say I'm kind of a big deal around here."

A spoon flies through the air and hits him in the forehead. He winces and rubs it in annoyance.

I stare blankly at him. Why am I still talking to this idiot?

He must have seen me losing the meager amount of interest he had inspired, because he quickly put his fake smile back on.

"As I was saying, I'm kind of a big deal," He leans in dramatically, "Some people even call me the Anti-Batman." He finishes proudly.

"So whereas Batman's good at what he does…"

His expression does a complete 180 as he snarls. He closes his hands into fists and brings them both down on the table. I lean back and make fists with my hands, this is why I don't talk to people in here!

"I am just as good as Batman! Don't you dare patronize me!"

He glares at me, furious.

I get up from the table, "Well, it was...uh...interesting meeting you, but I gotta go."

He watches me as I leave.

'Damn, what a psycho. Just goes to show that there's a reason everyone's here. And not a regular prison.'

I see my least favorite person at the moment appear in the corner of my eye.

' **So your least favorite person is yourself? Isn't that rich.'** He glances at Walker. ' **You should have punched him in the face.'**

I snort. "And what would that do exactly?"

I sit down at the first table I find that's empty, on the opposite end of the cafeteria.

' **Prove you're not a bitch, assert your dominance, take your pick…'**

I ignore him and finish eating my slop. I feel it coming back up my throat, but I swallow it down. 'God that's gross.'

I freeze when I feel a hand tap my shoulder. I groan in annoyance.

'This is what I get for letting one person talk to me, now everyone's gonna get chatty.'

"Yeah? What do you want?"

"Oh come now, is that any way to talk to your new best friends?"

I see a man walk around the table from behind me, followed closely by some other psycho. I can see a third one behind me out of the corner of my eye.

There's nothing special about any of them, they all look average. Except, of course, for the Glasgow Smile carved into all of their faces.

The first one coughs into his fist, "Anyway, we saw you talking to Walker over there. We just thought to tell you that you shouldn't associate yourself with screw-ups like him. It could be, ah," He glances down at his hand, then looks back up suddenly with what he probably thinks is a menacing glare, "It could get very bad for you, is what I'm trying to say."

He looks off into the distance, then looks at the guy behind me and nods. I feel someone put a hand on my shoulder.

"In fact, um," He squints his eyes like he's trying to remember what to say, then he looks at me and hits his palm with his fist, trying to be intimidating, "we should demonstrate just how bad things can get…"

The grip on my shoulder tightens. To the point that I actually start to feel it a little.

'Well, I knew that my first fight would happen eventually. Granted, I didn't think it'd happen so out of the blue. That's what I get for expecting the criminally insane to act rationally.'

My doppelganger is grinning in excitement, not hard to tell why.

'Though this whole thing does seem rather scripted. Good actors they are not.'

The guy whose hand was on my shoulder picks me up from my seat, not noticing me palming one of the cheap, plastic knives they let the patients use. He turns me around forcefully, his hand rearing back to punch me. In that moment, I bring up my hand with the knife and bring it down as hard as I can on his face.

He drops me and steps back, screaming and clutching at his eye, an eye that now has a plastic fork embedded in it. There's blood running down his face, but for once I don't feel anything. There's no hunger.

Despite already suspecting that would be the case, I was still surprised enough to freeze for a second. That second was all the other guys needed. I stumble forward as I'm hit really hard in the back of the head with a blunt object. My vision blurs and swims for a little as the world spins. I lash out blindly in the direction I was hit from, and am rewarded with a small cry of alarm as my claws find a target.

After that small victory, however, I was hit with a haymaker that sent me to the floor. I then doubled over in pain as I was kicked in the stomach.

I rolled under the table, the chairs giving me momentary protection. Enough, at least, for me to crawl to the other side of the table and get back up.

Our little struggle has earned us the attention of the cafeteria, I can even see a few of the closer inmates betting on who'll get his ass beat. I don't seem to be doing too well in the polls...oh well.

The guy with the knife in his eye is still incapacitated, guess he's not as tough as he tried to make himself seem. The other two are already on their way around the table, the one in the lead sporting four bloody claw marks across his face. And boy does he look pissed.

I know that I can't beat these two in a straight up fight, at least not without my powers, so I'll have to fight smart and try not to get hit. The angry one steps up and throws a wild punch, I duck under it and hit him as hard as I can in the center of his body, aiming to hit his diaphragm. He grunts, but is otherwise fine. Guess I missed. I tackle his lower body, and we both go down. I here a sharp smack as we're falling, hopefully he hit his head on the edge of the table.

I crawl up him and start punching him in the face. The wound I made earlier opened up even more, and it wasn't long before my fists were stained a dark red. In my efforts to cause this guy the most damage I could, I completely forgot about the other inmate. I get a painful reminder when something hard and flat hits the back of my head...again. Someone then grabs me by the shoulders and lifts me up to my feet. I'm then grabbed and roughly thrown across the table. I roll across it, and on my way down hit a chair, then the floor. My uniform is covered in my earlier lunch.

I groan and try to get up, but my vision is still swimming, and I'm forced to stay down. I can sense a shadow over me, and prepare myself for the pain.

And pain I got, though not the kind I was expecting. My collar beeps before sending an electrical shock through my body. I can hear two other bodies hit the floor, but I don't pay them any mind. I'm too busy convulsing.

"Alright, break it up. You, get this guy to a doctor before he bleeds out. As for you three...hmm."

The electric shock lessens, and I'm able to think again. I slowly raise my head to look at the guard speaking. He's wearing a helmet, so I can't see his face.

He stares at me struggling for a bit before he turns to one of the other guards.

"Get these two back to their cells," He turns back to me, "as for this one, get him to solitary confinement. Maybe some time alone will teach him not to stab people in the eye."

Two of the faceless guards at his side pick me up and start dragging me to my new cell. I try to give them a bit of a hard time, but getting tased took a lot out of me. Big shock.

I smile despite myself, God that was a stupid pun.

I remain motionless. Even as my body is dragged down the hall, the guards telling me to start walking. I just let them drag me. I won't fight, but I'm sure as hell not being helpful.

I'm thrown into my new cell and I hear the door close behind me. The second it clicks shut there's complete silence. I can hear my heartbeat, the blood rushing through my head. I lay there until I've recovered enough, then I shakily get up and walk over to the bed.

"Well, this sucks."

' **Yup, sure does, you getting your ass beat, that is.'**

I see my least favorite, and currently only, twin sitting beside me. Looking like a smug little bitch like usual.

"Just shut up, I already know what you're gonna say. The same shit you've been saying for months. Well you can quit it, I'm not giving you control.

' **I could say the same thing you know? It's a fairly predictable exchange we have going on here. I call you a pussy, you get prissy, and it keeps going until I ultimately win. What do you think will happen when that collar finally comes off? You think I'm just going to sink back into your subconscious and let you keep the wheel? Oh no. I've got aspirations, just like you. Except whereas your are boring, mine are fun.'**

"As long as I live, you will never take control!" I scream at him.

He disappears.

* * *

 **A few days later...I think…**

I've been sitting here for days, or at least from what I can tell. I probably would have gone insane a while ago, but the doppelganger popped in every once in a while to torment me. Ironically keeping me sane. Or maybe talking to myself is a bad thing? I honestly don't know anymore.

"35...36...37...,' I've been exercising to keep myself busy. It's the only thing I can do to keep myself occupied in such a mind-numbing environment.

I continue my push-ups, when suddenly I hear what sounds like an explosion somewhere in the asylum, greatly muffled by this rooms padding. I pause and look up, listening intently. There's complete silence, like that great rush of noise had not happened at all. Had I hallucinated it all?

I rush over to the door and press my ear against it. My head sinks into the padding, this isn't working.

All of a sudden I see the door knob jiggling, and take a step back in surprise. I watch in trepidation as the door swings open, revealing quite possibly the last people I wanted to see right now. It was the douchebags that got me in here, except this time they were all carrying a random assortment of weapons. I back away slowly as they enter further into the room. They stop about halfway in.

Looking past them into the hallway, I see what can only be described as pandemonium. Everyone's running in a single direction, and I can see an orange glow on the walls, probably from a fire just out of my sight.

I forget about my observations as one last individual walks into my room.

'I'm so fucked.'

He has a large grin on his face, exaggerated by the makeup he has on. His purple suit is in disarray, covered in poorly washed out blood stains. In his hand is some sort of revolver.

He walks up to me, a skip in his step. I stand stock still, even as his hand reaches up and grabs my face. He turns it to the side roughly, inspecting it, I don't know what for. I hear a metallic click and look down. While I was distracted by his handling of my face, he brought his revolver up until it was under my chin. If he wanted to he could pull the trigger right now and my brains would paint the walls.

I look into his eyes and he stares right back. A tense second later he pushes my head away and brings his revolver back to his side.

"Hmm, yes. You'll do."

He walks towards the door. As he's leaving, he stops suddenly and looks back.

"Whoops, almost forgot! Silly me! Ha!"

He walks up to one of the three henchman and hands him a pocket knife.

"Why don't you give yourself a little smile? Looks like your old one's starting to fade."

We all watch as the lackey pulls the knife up to his face and starts to carve into his face. His eyes are tearing up, and every once in a while a small choking noise escapes his throat, but he perseveres. The knife he was handed looked dull, so there was quite a bit of sawing and stabbing involved.

The man in the purple suit walks back to the door. He raises some sort of remote, and my eyes widen. It's not too hard to assume what it does, there's not that many things in the immediate vicinity that are controlled by a remote.

"No! Don't!" But my words fall on empty ears.

My doppelganger materializes in the corner of my vision, he looks excited.

' **Finally. It's my turn to take the wheel.'**

The button on the remote is pushed, and I feel my collar give a faint beep, before it breaks apart and falls to my feet.

"Have fun!" He grins wickedly and closes the door. I can hear it being bolted on the other side. His henchman chuckle, probably thinking he was talking to them.

I don't feel it at first. But soon enough I can feel my power returning to me, and the hunger along with it. I can hear the idiot thugs walking closer, but I couldn't care less. All I could focus on right now was the small drop of blood slowly crawling down the injured man's face. It was almost beautiful, how it left a faint, red trail on its way down. Like a macabre work of art.

I shake my head to snap out of it.

'No, I can't lose control! I can't! I've gotta calm down!' I take a few deep breaths, completely ignoring the approaching thugs. I can feel it slowly start to work, the pounding in my head lessens, and my heart rate is getting under control.

' **Oh no you don't, I'm not going through all this bullshit again.'**

I look up and see my doppelganger staring at me. He starts sprinting at me full speed and jumps into my chest head first. I take a step back in surprise.

'What? Where the hell did he go…?'

I stumble as the hunger comes back with a vengeance, many times more intense than what I was feeling before. I could feel my conscious mind slipping away. Everything was getting foggy, and I could feel myself getting lightheaded as the hunger consumed me fully.

Suddenly, I'm calm. I bring my hands up to look at them and admire them.

"Finally! I can do what I want to do. Don't have to waste time convincing that coward to do every little fucking thing," I look at the approaching thugs, they don't seem to have gotten much closer. Guess time moves a little slower in my head.

I smirk, "You guys are so fucked, and you don't even realize it."

"Shut up freak, and take your punishment."

He swings his baseball bat at my head, but I raise my hand and catch it. He pulls it to get it out of my grip, but he's nowhere near strong enough to do that. I wrench it from his grasp and hold it in my hand.

'Hmm, haven't had much practice with this recently, let's see here…'

Blood starts to drip down the bat. In a few seconds, it's completely coated in a thick layer of blood, held aloft by my power. With a small burst of concentration, sharp nail long spikes start forming all over the end of the bat. In the end, I have a blood-red spiked club.

"Ooh, now this is more my style."

The thug I took the bat from throws a punch. I step out of the way and with one hand bring down the club as hard as I can onto his knee. I hear a satisfying crunch as his leg bends the completely opposite way it should and he screams. I bring the club up, holding it in both hands, and swing it at his head. The second it makes contact with his head, I hear something split, and then chunks of his skull and brain matter are splattered across the wall.

I hear someone banging on the door of the cell. Looks like one of the idiots lost his will and wanted to leave. Well, sucks to be him then. The other one is just standing there looking at his friends body, shocked at how quickly he was killed.

I walk towards them, "Ya know, I was gonna have this whole baseball bit, with his decapitated head as the ball. Was gonna say something witty like 'batter up' or something like that. Certainly didn't expect his head to just explode, guess I don't know my own strength."

I drop the club. As it leaves my hand, the blood absorbs back into my hand and it falls to the ground as a regular, unblemished bat.

The one thug who didn't fall into hysterics perked up as I spoke. He got an angry look on his face and charged. I roll my eyes. When he gets close, I grab him by his shirt and throw him against the wall. I can hear one of his ribs crack. He groans and tries to stand up. He has to lean against the wall for support, and I can see fear in his eyes as he sees me approach.

"Please man...don't kill me! I can give you money! Anything you want!"

"Now that's just pathetic. Where's all that bravado you were showing earlier? Don't tell me that was all a show. No, there's only one thing I want, and you can't give it to me. Making you quite useless."

"No no no, please, PLEASE!"

I reach my arm back and then strike his chest with a significant portion of my strength. My arm tears right through his rib cage and organs like tissue paper. Using the hole in his chest as a handhold, I lift him up. He's bleeding profusely, but any blood that touches me is just absorbed back into my collection. A wet gurgle escapes his mouth, he's just barely hanging onto life.

I reach my other hand into the same hole and start pulling them in opposite directions. I can hear his ribcage and spine splinter. Tendons snap and veins pop as I pull harder. All of a sudden, his entire chest splits down the center. His guts and other organs spill to the floor, all drained of blood.

I grab his heart and start draining in earnest. A euphoric sensation fills me as liters of blood flow into my reserves. I think a tear may have even escaped my eye. I get a rush of energy as my body starts repairing itself. All the damage done by my relatively poor nutrition these past few months restored almost instantly. And to think all this required such a small sacrifice.

With my body operating at peak performance, I turn towards the last one. The one that's spent the last few moments trying desperately to get out of the trap his boss had locked him in.

I walk towards him with a smile.

"Hey now, no need to panic. See, I actually have a use for you."

He begins blubbering, the typical "I'll do anything" spiel. God these guys are uncreative.

"Yes, you're gonna help me find a way out of this cell."

He regains enough of his mental ability to ask a confused question.

"But...I've been trying real hard. This door's just not gonna go down!"

What an idiot.

"Well, normally one would tell you to 'use your head', but I can already see you haven't had much experience with that. In that case, I'll just have to use it for you."

"Huh? What do you...Hey! Why you grabbin me?!"

I grin, "Didn't you hear? We're gonna use your head!"

With that, I pull him back. I use him as a makeshift battering ram, slamming him into the door head first. I can hear the hinges on the door rattle a little. I smile.

"Well would you look at that, it's working!"

I pull back and keep slamming. Back and forth until eventually his skull shatters against the door. I drop him on the floor, frowning.

"Damn, and things were going so well. Guess I have to do all the work, like usual."

With that said, I take a few steps back and ram into the door with my shoulder. I can hear the metal buckle and the hinges groan. I rear back and strike again. I do this until, with a loud bang, the door flies off its hinges.

The other side looks just like it did a few minutes ago, complete insanity. There's fire everywhere, with criminals rushing to get out while they had the chance. There's a few guards trying to keep order, but they're extremely outnumbered. I can see a few people, both criminals and guards, that have been trampled by the rioting mob.

I shrug and start following the crowd. A guard notices me and tries to stop me. He probably hasn't noticed I don't have a collar on. I take care of him quickly. I wrap a tendril around his throat and snap his neck.

As I do that, I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head and stumble.

"What the hell?"

I kneel there for a moment, waiting for the intense migraine to pass, but it just gets worse. I start to hear a ringing in my ears, that quickly becomes a cacophony ear splitting noise. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and immediately the pain stops. I get up off the ground, rip the hand off my shoulder, and look at the owner of the offending hand. It was Walker.

He grins, in a much better mood than when he flew off the handle a few days ago.

"Here's not the best place to take a nap. Here, why don't I show you the way out of this place?"

I open my mouth to say no and then violently murder him, but I stop. What exactly am I gonna do once I get out of here? I don't exactly have a savings account to fall back on. And no way in hell am I gonna be a petty thief or burglar. I am leagues above that. Maybe I could use this "Walker", at least until I have a place of my own to stay in. No reason not to drain him of his usefulness before I kill him.

I try my best to give a realistic looking smile. I think I looked a little demented, if Walker pulling back subconsciously was any indication.

"Sure, I'd love for you to show me the way out."

He recovers and grins, "Atta boy. Come on, I heard the explosives were gonna be planted this way."

We make our way over to the exit. I can feel a cool breeze as we approach, and a full moon can be seen shining down through the giant, gaping hole in the side of the asylum.

Before I jump down, I turn to Walker. I swallow my disgust.

"Hey Walker, that invitation to show me the ropes still open?"

I didn't think his grin could get any bigger, but it did. What a disgusting sub-human.

He wraps his arm around my shoulder like we're old buddies. I can barely restrain myself from ripping his arm off.

"Why, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

And he's speaking in cliches. I have a feeling I'm gonna regret this.


End file.
